WILL HAVE TO REGROUP OVER THE BREAK
Former cornerback Anthony Henry played for Todd Bowles with the Browns and the Cowboys, and Henry said today that Bowles is just the guy to bring a secondary together.
"With the kind of talent they already have there, he'll make them a better secondary, and they'll have a really successful team next year," Henry said.
Henry, now retired in the Dallas area, said Bowles has a talent for "tapping in on what each player is good at, and bringing that together" into a coherent coverage plan for the secondary. "Guys feel comfortable with their roles and the scheme," Henry said -- not something that was always true for the Eagles last season.
The Eagles announced this afternoon that they are hiring Bowles, ex-Dolphins assistant head coach-defensive backs, as the coach of the Birds' defensive backs. Bowles replaces Johnnie Lynn, but unlike Lynn, he will be in charge of the entire secondary, including safeties coach Mike Zordich. Lynn only coached corners.
Bringing aboard Bowles, 48, a former Temple star and Redskins defensive back, removes the last obstacle to Eagles coach Andy Reid giving his long-awaited season wrapup news conference. Reid now is scheduled to speak to reporters tomorrow at noon.
Bowles began his post-playing career on the Packers' personnel staff, back when Reid was on the Green Bay coaching staff, in 1995-96. He has coached with the Jets, Browns and Cowboys, along with the Dolphins, coming to Miami along with Bill Parcells, when Parcells left the Cowboys. He was the Dolphins' interim head coach after the Dec. 12 firing of Tony Sparano, going 2-1, and was a finalist for the permanent job, which went to Joe Philbin. Bowles also interviewed for the head coaching vacancy in Oakland. It will be interesting to see if he has more of a voice in game-day decisions than an ordinary position coach would.
The Eagles said Bowles' hiring completes their coaching staff, so Juan Castillo offically will remain as defensive coordinator.
Henry said Bowles' voice was respected in Dallas across the defense, not just in the secondary.
Henry said Bowles' style was laid-back enough that players felt free to come in and talk to him about coverages they felt had worked well for them in the past, that he should consider, but he "did get fiery" if a plan wasn't being executed properly. He added that Bowles is not "a big yeller or cuss-out guy."
Bowles is probably the first position coach Reid has brought aboard who was already considered an up-and-coming NFL head coaching candidate; that will be an interesting dynamic, as Reid confronts what might be a do-or-die season.
Les
Bowen has covered the Eagles for the Daily News
since 2002.
Before that, he spent nearly 13 years covering the Flyers. It took Les
only a few seasons after the switch to figure out that there was no
penalty box at the Linc, and that the time really wasn't his, despite
what Andy Reid kept saying. Les came to Philadelphia and the Daily News
from Charlotte in 1983. In the intervening years, he has pretty much
lost track of NASCAR, and his accent. He, his wife Barbara, and their
two sons live in Haddon Township, New Jersey.
E-mail Les at bowenl@phillynews.com
and follow
him on Twitter.
Paul
Domowitch has been with the Daily News since 1982.
He has spent most of his nearly 3 decades with the paper covering the
Eagles and pro football. For the last 10 years, he’s been a
selector for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. A native of Wilkes-Barre
and a graduate of Wilkes University, Domo started his career in Texas,
working first for the Midland Reporter-Telegram (1976-78), and then for
the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, where he covered some god-awful Texas
Ranger baseball teams. His first beat at the Daily News actually was
boxing, which he covered just long enough to lose 2 sports coats to
blood spatter before moving on to football. Domo and his wife Shelley,
a University of Oklahoma grad who still hasn’t gotten over
that Fiesta Bowl loss to Boise State 5 years ago, have 2 terrific
daughters -- Allison, 28, who is an attorney in South Jersey, and Amy,
25, who works in administration for a professional baseball team.
E-mail Domo at PDomo@aol.com and follow
him on Twitter.
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